Triumph Repair: Replace the drive line, bmw 316, triumph spitfire

Question
Sirs!
I'm on my way to saving a spitfire MK1 from the grave.
I plane to use it as my summer car. I wone replace the hole drive line engine, gearbox and rear axle..
I have seen that Corolla 80:s has a engine and a gear box or the
ford T9 gear box. My question is.. is there a newer engine about 70hp that can be used and what gearbox shell i use.
I have been locking at a BMW 316 (1602) rear axle perhaps that can be something to merge together with a GT6 rear    
Or is it some other way to go.. Do you have any suggestions.

Way i´m i doing all this.. whay dont i by a new car..
Well the spitfire is one of the most god locking car I now and I want it to be a good one too..  

Best regards

Answer
Hi Christer,

To attempt to put another car's drive train in a car is a lot of work and requires some equipment.
If you are up for the task, my hat is off to you and you are my kind of man. I take great joy in modifying what ever I have. I don't know if it is an illness or some kind of disorder I have but I love it and can't wait to get out in my shop to work on my projects.

The Triumph Spitfire is a fine looking car and would be a good choice to put a different drive train in. I am presently stuffing a 215 Olds V-8 into a MGB GT and it has been a lot of work and fun.

You have plenty of room in a Spitfire to put what engine you want in and even though I have not done a project on a Spitfire I have worked on many over the years.

The few things I can tell you is remove the whole drive train of the spitfire BEFORE you purchase any pieces to put back in. You will need welding skills or have close access to a welding shop to do the rear end and motor mounts and all the little items you will run into along the way.

The reason you need to remove the old drive train is you should do a lot of measuring first to see what components could be used. I advise that when you chose an engine, get the engine and transmission as a unit. don't try to mismatch and engine and trans. There are too many problems and machine work to put a different trans to an engine unless you find a company that sells a Kit to do that for the engine and trans you want to use. There was a company in Texas called "John's Cars" who use to have many kits. There may be some in Europe too so you need to search the Internet first.

The rear end will challenge you fabrication skills as the Spitfire has a poor design independent suspension. I like a standard straight axle but there, you need to find one that is the correct length and has a gear ratio to match your end result or has optional ratios. No matter what rear end you use there is a lot of work to be done in that area but with the old system out it will be easy to measure the area to see if you have room for what ever you choose to go in it.

I probably went too far on my project but it was meant to be my hobby and I don't recommend anyone doing what I did. My project has a Olds 215 V-8 with four 2brl Weber carbs off of a 308 Ferrari, a cut down flywheel with a Mazda RX-7 turbo pressure plate and a Triumph TR-8 disk and a TR-7 5 speed box with a Ford Mustang limited slip differential with MGB outer tubs and Ford Crown Victoria disks and US caliper on the rear and Toyota Van front disks with Willwood calipers on the front. The engine has no starter motor nor ring gear but I designed a direct injection system to spin the engine with compressed air. The water pump is a remote mounted BMW pump and the cooling system is a double cross flow system with 14 inlets and 4 out lets to a Jaguar thermostat housing to a Hot Rod 350 Chevy aluminum radiator and a Jaguar blow through electric fan. The distributor was removed and a home made oil pump drive put in it's place and a Electromotive direct ignition system added with the trigger wheel mounted to a Honda front pulley. A MSD knock censer display system added and a manual ignition total advance control in the cockpit. The oil pump was modified to use a remote oil filter and a oil cooler from an MGB.

You can look at what kind of modifications were necessary to do this kind of work by looking at my "Project" on my web site http://mg-tri-jag.net and scroll down the menu to "Project" At the bottom of the Project page is the documented photos of the construction.

I don't recommend that anyone do what I am doing unless they are searching for a long term hobby but it will give you some insight on what kind of fabrication is needed in some areas.

Good luck,

Howard